Inside:
Council updates
CJ told to put
the lid on LIDs
Page 2
Helping youth
Mentors make
a difference
Page 5
Campaign 2010
Commissioner field
taking shape
Page 6
I.V. football
Cougars showing
improvement
Page 12
Operational
directive set
by fire chief
Fire district personnel
to stage if police not
available for some calls
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Illinois Valley Fire Dis-
trict (IVFD) is considering
adoption of a stand-by direc-
tive for calls requiring law
enforcement response, ac-
cording to Chief Harry Rich.
Rich briefed the IVFD
Board of Directors on the
directive during its hour-long,
Thursday night, Sept. 10
meeting at district headquar-
ters on Caves Hwy.
“This is an operational
issue,” Rich said.
In an Aug. 7 memoran-
dum from Rich to IVFD per-
sonnel, the chief wrote that
“IVFD will not be responding
to medical or emotional inci-
dents requiring law enforce-
ment to secure the scene
when law enforcement is
unavailable.”
The memo states that
IVFD personnel will respond
if Dispatch confirms that
deputies are on their way,
with an estimated arrival time
of 15 minutes or less.
However, if the response
is estimated to be more than
15 minutes but less than 30,
IVFD units shall remain
available and stage in quar-
ters, the memo states.
(Continued on page 10)
Hundreds gather
for protest in GP
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Hundreds of people of
varied ages turned out on the
afternoon of Saturday, Sept.
12 for a “tea party with teeth”
protest in front of the Jose-
phine County Courthouse in
Downtown Grants Pass.
The event coincided with
similar protests in front of the
state capitol in Salem, the
nation’s capitol in Washing-
ton, D.C. and elsewhere
throughout the country. More
than 1,000 people were esti-
mated to have attended the
Salem protest, and tens of
thousands appeared in Wash-
ington, D.C.
Half an hour prior to the
event start, the lawn in front
of the Josephine County
Courthouse already was fill-
ing with people and alive with
activity. There was no short-
age of signs, as several U.S.
flags were flown high, and
patriotic anthems blared
through a sound system.
Many booths also were
present, as volunteers were on
hand to gather signatures to
repeal a series of tax increases
passed by the Oregon Legis-
lature earlier this year.
Jack Swift, coordinator
for the county chapter of
Americans for Prosperity
(AFP), took to the stage to
address the crowd.
Swift stated that after the
first round of tea party pro-
tests, politicians have contin-
ued to grow government and
spend more money.
“They didn’t get it the
first time. We’ve said it twice
now,” Swift said. “They are
not listening. They are not
hearing us.”
Jack Swift
Also discussed by Swift
were the continuing efforts to
repeal tax increases at the
state level. He said that the
income and corporate tax
hikes are on track to be re-
ferred to voters in January.
However, Swift said that
House Bill 2001, the Jobs &
Transportation Act, is the
“worst of them all.”
That bill includes an in-
crease in the state’s gasoline
tax, and Swift said it contains a
provision to change land-use
zoning to prevent commuting.
“It’s nothing but legis-
lated nongrowth for the state
of Oregon,” he said.
Through the initiative
process, Swift said, Orego-
(Continued on page 3)
Protesters expressed frustra-
tion with federal spending,
excessive regulations, state tax
hikes and a lack of honest
representation. The event also
included signature gathering.
(Photos by Michelle Binker,
Illinois Valley News )
RVACT votes to restore funding for Redwood Hwy. project
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
Restoring some $6 mil-
lion worth of cuts affecting
improvement projects for
Hwy. 199 (Redwood Hwy.)
was approved by the Rogue
Valley Area Commission on
Transportation (RVACT)
during its Tuesday, Sept. 8
meeting at the Josephine
County Fairgrounds in Grants
Pass.
RVACT is comprised of
representatives from Jose-
phine and Jackson counties.
Members serve as an advi-
sory board to the Oregon
Dept. of Transportation, mak-
ing recommendations on
funding priorities.
Under RVACT’s bylaws,
Josephine County is supposed
to receive approximately 30
percent of the regional trans-
portation dollars. However,
throughout the years, multiple
Josephine County officials
have expressed doubts that
the 30 percent has ever actu-
ally been received.
The transportation fund-
ing equity issues were among
agenda items for the Sept. 8
meeting. It originally was
scheduled for discussion
when RVACT met in White
City July 14, but an extension
was requested by Stacey Kel-
lenbeck, who serves as a Jo-
sephine County citizen-at-
large on that body. She also is
a member of the Grants Pass
Urban Area Planning Com-
mission.
During the July 14 meet-
ing, Kellenbeck read a pre-
pared statement, in which she
said that the political turmoil
in the city of Grants Pass in-
hibited staff’s ability to ade-
quately prepare for the meet-
ing. During recent months,
Grants Pass has endured the
firing of its city manager and
a recall election against a
majority of its city councilors.
Kellenbeck, who chaired
the Sept. 8 meeting, said that
the equity issue has come up
“a number of times” in the six
years she’s been on RVACT.
“Every time it comes up,
it’s a typical experience,”
Kellenbeck said. “ODOT
brings numbers to the table,
and sometimes the city of
Grants Pass staff has its own
version of those numbers.”
But prior to the Sept. 8
meeting, Kellenbeck met with
ODOT staff. Also present
was Grants Pass City Coun-
cilor Tim Cummings, who
represents it on RVACT.
Kellenbeck said that she
was informed by ODOT offi-
cials that there are actions
Josephine County can take to
increase its participation in
the process, with the cities of
Grants Pass and Cave Junc-
tion.
Approximately $5.8 mil-
lion originally was set aside
for improvements to Red-
wood Hwy., Kellenbeck said,
but budget cuts resulted in
their elimination.
Since then, $6 million
has become available, and a
majority of RVACT mem-
bers voted Sept. 8 to restore
those funds to Josephine
County projects that were cut.
RVACT voted to allocate
approximately $1.5 million
towards a project on Jayne’s
Drive, located just outside of
Grants Pass near Hwy. 238.
Approximately $4.5 million
was put towards Redwood
Hwy. improvements, Kellen-
beck said.
Although Kellenbeck
heralds the allocation vote as
a positive development, she
said that the county has a long
way to go towards fully fund-
ing any Redwood Hwy. im-
provements.
“Even with that $6 mil-
lion, the project for 199 is still
completely under-funded,”
she said. “It’s not ready to go
yet. All we’ve done is make a
$4.5 million investment in the
future of that potential pro-
ject.”
County standards sought
for fire protection providers
Jeffrey Clark, a 29-year member of Grants Pass Lions Club,
was the lucky winner of the 2009 Harley Davidson motorcy-
cle raffled by the Illinois Valley Lions Club at its Labor Day
Weekend Festival on Monday, Sept. 7. The winning ticket
was drawn by Melissa Bahr (right), who is here on vacation
from Germany with her mother. Proceeds from the raffle fund
Lions Sight & Hearing Scholarships for area high school stu-
dents. (Photo by Zina Booth, Illinois Valley News )
Although most of Jose-
phine County is covered by
fire districts, including the
Illinois Valley, there are
portions serviced only by
three private companies.
That issue has caused
sufficient concern through-
out the years to prompt the
Board of County Commis-
sioners (BCC) to form mul-
tiple committees to examine
it. The last such committee
met in 2007 and established
a series of recommenda-
tions, including standards
for service providers.
However, to date, those
standards have yet to be
adopted by the county. For-
mer commissioner candidate
Harry Mackin is looking to
change that, and presented
his recommendations for
standards to the BCC during
its weekly business session
the morning of Wednesday,
Sept. 9.
In documents provided
to the BCC, Mackin spelled
out his reasons for wanting
to see standards adopted.
“The research done by
the committee indicated that
one fire department which
protected about 60 percent
of the properties was highly
rated by the insurance In-
dustry Rating Bureau (ISO)
and provided service for
both fire and medical emer-
gencies,” Mackin wrote.
“The other departments pro-
vide no medical response
and properties protected by
them are considered
‘unprotected’ by insurance
standards.”
Mackin stated in the
document that two of the
private providers, Inland
Fire and Grants Pass Rural,
have been fined by the Oc-
cupational Safety and
Health Administration for
(Continued on page 10)
Illinois Valley Rotary Club’s ‘Last Chance’ Rogue Duck Derby
adoption event will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 2
to 6 p.m. at Home Valley Bank in Cave Junction. The 2009
Rogue Duck Derby will be held on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Riv-
erside Park in Grants Pass. Proceeds from the duck derby
have gone to refurbish athletic facilities at area schools.
(Photo by Michelle Binker, Illinois Valley News )